EDITORIAL
The Energy of A New Civilization
Through democratic revolutions, humanity had rediscovered equality, freedom, fraternity, solidarity, and humanity. With a huge leap in solidarity, sharing, communitarianism, and collectivism, national liberation struggles and socialist practices in various countries enabled humanity to transcend the limitations of the 20th century. Meanwhile, imperialist capitalism attempted to eradicate these humanistic attributes, which were the motor of progress.
The following ordering can be accepted if the civilizations on Earth were to be ranked according to the main energy sources that they used in different historical periods: Wood was the main source of energy after the discovery of fire. The 18th and 19th centuries can be described as a civilization built primarily on coal, thanks to the invention of steam power and the industrial revolution. The twentieth century and the early twenty-first century were characterized by a civilization dependent on oil and natural gas.
Controlling the world's key energy resources has always been at the center of global power struggles. In their attempt to dominate international politics, imperialist powers devote special efforts at controlling the world's finite traditional fossil fuel supplies.
There can be no doubt about the severity of the crisis of neoliberal globalization. Even the proponents of globalization do not fail to acknowledge this problem and are working to reform the current policy setting. In the meantime, developing countries, which are suffering from the destructive effects of the neoliberal globalized economy at first hand, are voicing their demand for a more just international order with ever increasing persistence and force.
Neoliberal globalization, which used to provide the general framework for the unipolar international order led by the United States, has corroded the basic human values on social, economic and cultural levels, and damaged the environment at the expense of our planet's vitality. Worthy of special emphasis is that neoliberal globalization was predicated on a fossil-fuel-based model of development, which has eventually resulted in a broader "civilization crisis."
This system, which threatens planetary survival, is in an ever deepening crisis. In these circumstances, the only way out is to build a new civilization predicated on the principles of sharing, solidarity, egalitarianism, international collaboration, and environmental sustainability. This new civilization, which can be referred to as the “ecological civilization”, will be necessarily based on renewable energy sources. In this perspective, green hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources stands out as a crucial source of energy.
Energy must be rendered abundant, affordable, accessible, renewable, and ecologically friendly, if an ecological civilization is to be erected. Green hydrogen energy might be a viable solution at the the current stage of scientific and technological progress.
It is well known that China does not only place a high priority on the development of renewable energy sources, but it has also emerged as a world leader that promotes international collaboration under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI, whose agenda is shaped by developing countries, proposes a fair model of international relations, which serves as the foundation for a sharing and solidaristic new civilization built on human-nature harmony. Developing green energy cooperation among Belt and Road countries will enhance the BRI, while also speeding up the growth of these countries.
FİKRET AKFIRAT
Editor-in-Chief